Katchatheevu dispute demand cooperative solutions

Source: The post Katchatheevu dispute demand cooperative solutions has been created, based on the article “The way forward on Katchatheevu, Palk Strait disputes” published in “The Hindu” on 11 September 2025. Katchatheevu dispute demand cooperative solutions.

UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS Paper 2-India and its neighbourhood- relations.

Context: India’s diplomacy—rooted in Panchsheel, NAM, SAARC, and a Neighbourhood First outlook—faces a test with Sri Lanka. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s April 2025 Colombo visit refocused attention on the Palk Straits fisheries dispute and Katchatheevu. The task is to align livelihoods, ecology, and law through cooperation.

For detailed information on Katchatheevu Island controversy read this article here

What drives the Palk Straits conflict?

1. Shared waters, rising disputes: Communities from Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka’s Northern Province long shared waters. Tensions rose as Indian mechanised trawlers entered Sri Lankan waters.
2. Bottom trawling and legal norms: UNCLOS couples equitable use with conservation, and the 1995 FAO Code rejects bottom trawling. Sri Lanka banned bottom trawling in 2017, yet many Indian trawlers persist.
3. Ecological damage and stock depletion: Bottom trawling damages coral beds and shrimp habitats. It depletes fish stocks and intensifies competition.
4. Intra-Tamil livelihood conflict: Artisanal fishers using sustainable gear lose their near-shore catch. The clash pits profit-driven trawler operators against subsistence fishers.

How can livelihoods and conservation be balanced?

Distinguish needs and responsibilities: Policy must separate artisanal needs from trawler interests. 1. Commercial profits cannot claim empathy when they harm sustainability and community welfare.

2. Humane accommodation for small fishers: Small-boat fishers have worked here “from time immemorial.” Their plight warrants humane accommodation.
3. Dialogue and regulated access: Fisher organisations can negotiate quotas, regulated access, and limited rights on specific days or seasons, with Sri Lankan fishers’ consent, until Indian stocks recover.
4. Community sensitisation and fraternity: Sri Lankan Tamil MPs and media can highlight wartime hardships of Northern fishers. Tamil Nadu earlier sheltered refugees with compassion, and such bonds can lower tensions..

What is the Katchatheevu issue—fact versus myth?

1. Status and treaty facts: Katchatheevu is tiny and uninhabited, with St. Anthony’s church visited annually under the 1974 Maritime Boundary Treaty. The settlement placed the islet within Sri Lankan waters..
2. Sanctity of boundary treaties: Boundary treaties are legally binding (pacta sunt servanda). Unilateral repudiation undermines stability, as contests of settled frontiers with India show.
3. Evidence of sovereignty weighed: Historic records showed Sri Lankan administrative control dating back to Portuguese and Dutch rule, and, earlier, to the Tamil kings of the kingdom of Jaffna.
4. Precedents on administrative control: In Minquiers and Ecrehos (ICJ, 1953), the Court awarded sovereignty to the U.K. because it had exercised administrative jurisdiction, despite France’s historical claim. The Rann of Kutch Arbitration (1968) applied a similar logic. Therefore, Katchatheevu is a settled legal issue; calls to “retrieve” it are political rhetoric. Fishing rights are distinct and not linked to sovereignty over the islet..

What do “historic waters” and UNCLOS imply?

1. Historic waters and stronger rights
   Indian and Sri Lankan law recognised the Palk Straits as historic waters. Rights exceed ordinary territorial seas; there is no right of innocent passage, and third-state fishing needs consent..
2. Judicial recognition of historic rights: Annakumaru Pillai v. Muthupayal (Madras HC, 1904) upheld traditional pearl and conch fisheries. India’s 1974 acceptance aligned with precedent.
3. Obligation to cooperate in semi-enclosed seas: UNCLOS Article 123 urges cooperation in semi-enclosed seas like the Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar.

What cooperative pathways fit Neighbourhood First?

1. Quota-based conservation and science: Adopt shared quotas, as in the Baltic Sea Fisheries Convention, and set up a joint research station on Katchatheevu to guide sustainable practices.
2. Shift pressure offshore: Promote deep-sea fishing in India’s 200-nautical-mile EEZ to ease pressure and curb illegal crossings.
3. Multi-level engagement architecture: Use government-to-government talks, State/Provincial coordination with Tamil Nadu and Northern Provincial Council, and fisher-to-fisher dialogue.
4. From dispute to cooperation: Handled prudently, these issues can symbolise cooperation. The task is fair resource management that protects artisanal livelihoods and ecological sustainability while respecting legal agreements.

Question for practice:

1. Examine how India and Sri Lanka can balance artisanal livelihoods and marine conservation in the Palk Straits under existing legal frameworks.